Ling 150, Historical Linguistics Moore, Winter 2013 Types of Sound Change Lenition (1) Stronger Weaker voiced voiceless (sometimes) voiceless voiced (sometimes) stops fricatives obstruents sonorants consonants semivowels oral glottal front/back central (2) Lentition: Stronger > Weaker Kara (New Ireland) *bulan > fulan ‘moon’ *tapine > tefin ‘woman’ *punti > fut ‘banana’ (3) Rhotacism: C > r Latin *ami:kosum > ami:korum ‘of friends’ *genesis > generis ‘of the type’ Sound Loss (4) Aphaeresis: initial consonant deletion Angkamuthi (Cape York) *maji > aji ‘food’ *nani > ani ‘ground’ *wapun > apun ‘head’ (5) Apocope: final vowel loss S.E. Ambrym (Vanutu) *utu > ut ‘lice’ *aŋo > aŋ ‘fly’ *asue > asu ‘rat’ *tohu > toh ‘sugarcane’ Ling 150, Historical Linguistics Moore, Winter 2013 (6) Syncope: medial vowel loss Lenakel (Vanutu) *namatana > nɨmrɨn ‘his/her eye’ (note other changes) *nalimana > nelmɨn ‘his/her hand’ *masa > mha ‘low tide’ (7) Cluster reduction: CC >C English Melanesian Pidgin dɪstɹɪkt > distrik ‘district’ poʊst > pos ‘post’ peɩnt > pen ‘paint’ tæŋk > taŋ ‘tank’ (8) Haplology: syllable loss (conditioned by adjacent similar syllable) laɩbɹəɹi > laɩbɹi ‘library’ Anglaland > England Sound Addition (9) Excrescence: consonant addition *æmtig > ɛmpti ‘empty’ *θymle > θɪmbl ‘thimble’ (10) Epenthtesis: vowel addition English Tok Pisin blæk > bilak ‘black’ blu: > bulu ‘blue’ sɪks > sikis ‘six’ (11) Prothesis: initial sound addition Moru (Papua New Guinea) *api > lahi ‘fire’ *asan > lada ‘gills’ *au > lau ‘I, me’ Ling 150, Historical Linguistics Moore, Spring 2011 Metathesis Sounds switch places. (12) *brid > *bird > bɚd æsk > æks (13) Tagalog Ilokano taŋis : sa:ŋit ‘cry’ tubus : subut ‘redeem’ tigis : si:git ‘decant’ tamis : samqit ‘sweet’ Fusion Two sounds become one, bearing features of both original sounds. (14) vowel + nasal > nasalized vowel French *œn > œ˜ ‘one’ *bɔn > bɔ̃ ‘good’ *vɛn > vɛ ̃ ‘wine’ *blan > bla˜ ‘white’ (15) velar stop + bilabial semivowel > bilabial stop Attic Greek *gwous > bous ‘cow’ *gwatis > basis ‘going’ *gwasileus > basileus ‘official’ *leikwɔ: > leipɔ: ‘I leave’ *yɛ:kwar > hɛ:par ‘liver’ (16) Compensatory lengthening - C deletion results in a lengthening of the preceding vowel: Old Irish *magl > ma:l ‘prince’ *kenetl > kene:l ‘gender’ *etn > e:n ‘bird’ *datl > da:l ‘assembly’ Ling 150, Historical Linguistics Moore, Spring 2011 Unpacking One sound becomes two, representing different features of the original. (17) nasalized vowel > vowel + nasal French Bislama (Melanesian Pidgin spoken in Vanuatu) kamiɔ̃ > kamioŋ ‘truck’ aksidã > aksidoŋ ‘accident’ kaʁtɔ̃ > kartoŋ ‘cardboard box’ kalsɔ̃ > kalsoŋ ‘underpants’ Vowel Breaking vowel > diphthong (‘diphthongization’) (18) Standard English Southern American English dɛd > dɛɩd ‘dead’ bæd > bæɩd ‘bad’ (19) Vulgar Latin Spanish bɔno > bʊeno ‘good’ dɛnte > dɩente ‘tooth’ (20) Kairiru (Wewak, Papua New Guinea) *pale > pɩal ‘house’ (what else is changing?) *manu > mɩan ‘bird’ *ndanu > rɩan ‘water’ *lako > lɩak ‘go’ Assimilation Sounds becoming like adjacent sounds - two dimensions: partial vs. total (note: partial assimilation is more common that total) progressive vs. regressive (regressive assimilation is more common that progressive) (21) Total progressive assimilation: Icelandic *findan > finna ‘find’ *gulθ > gull ‘gold’ *halθ > hall ‘inclined’ *munθ > munn ‘month’ *unθan > unna ‘love’ Ling 150, Historical Linguistics Moore, Spring 2011 (22) Total regressive assimilation: Standard Spanish Cuban Spanish palmeto > pammeto ‘type of bush’ karne > kanne ‘meat’ (23) Partial regressive assimilation: English ɪnbæləns > ɪmbæləns ‘imbalance’ ɪnkənsɪdɚət > ɪŋkənsɪdɚət ‘inconsiderate’ (24) Palatalization - assimilation with the front/high feature of a following vowel: English *kinn > ʧin ‘chin’ *kɛ:si > ʧi:z ‘cheese’ *geldan > ji:ld ‘yield’ *gearn > ja:ɹn ‘yarn’ (25) Latin Vulgar Latin Spanish kirka > tserka > serka or θerka ‘close’ (26) Regressive assimilation in manner and voice - intervocalic lenition: Banoni (N. Solomons) *wakar > baγara ‘root’ *tipi > tsivi ‘traditional dance’ *makas > maγasa ‘dry coconut’ (27) Final devoicing: German *ba:d > ba:t ‘bath’ *ta:g > ta:k ‘day’ *hund > hunt ‘dog’ *ga:b > ga:p ‘gave’ Ling 150, Historical Linguistics Moore, Spring 2011 Harmony Assimilation at a distance (28) Consonant Harmony Tok Pisin Huli (New Guinea, S. Highlands) piksa > kikiɖa ‘picture’ (29) Vowel Harmony Bislama *kukim > kukum ‘cook’ (*-im ‘transitive suffix’) *putim > putum ‘put’ *mitim > mitim ‘meet’ *kilim > kilim ‘hit’ *harim > harem ‘feel’ *mekim > mekem ‘make’ *soim > soem ‘show’ (30) Nasal Harmony Enggano (S. Sumatra) *ehɛkuã > ehɛk̃ u˜a˜ ‘seat’ *eu˜ʔadaʔa > eu˜ʔa˜na˜ʔa˜ ‘food’ Dissimilation Similar sounds become less similar. (31) Grassmann’s Law (Hermann Grassmann, 1862): Sanskrit Greek *bho:dha > bo:dha : pewtho ‘bid’ (32) Dutch Afrikaans sxo:n > sko:n ‘clean’ sxoudər > skouər ‘shoulder’ Ling 150, Historical Linguistics Moore, Spring 2011 ‘Abnormal’ Sound Changes (33) PIE French *km̜ tom > sa˜ ‘100’ (34) Chain of sound changes: *km̜ tom > *kemtom unpacking > *kentom assimilation > *kent unstressed syllable loss > *tsent palatalization > *sent lenition > *sen C deletion > *se˜ fusion > sa˜ V lowering .